How to Save the Big Ten

ENLARGE

Montee Ball and Wisconsin were stunned by Oregon State on Saturday.
Getty Images

By

Rachel Bachman

Updated Sept. 10, 2012 12:46 p.m. ET

As every college football fan knows, the Big Ten Conference traditionally sends a representative to play a Pac-12 Conference team in the Rose Bowl. This has been a thorny business in recent years: Big Ten teams have won exactly one of the last 12 Rose Bowls. Granted, Bowl Championship Series postseason provisions prevent Big Ten vs. Pac-12 matchups every season. But six Big Ten teams have lost to Pac-12 representatives in that time. The record is grim.

It isn't quite Rose Bowl season yet, but on Saturday, Big Ten teams went belly-up once more against the Pac-12: a perfect 0-3. And they weren't facing a West Coast murderer's row. All three Pac-12 teams were unranked. Two had new coaches. One was coming off consecutive losing seasons. And it could be worse for the Big Ten: Imagine if the two conferences hadn't backtracked on a planned long-term agreement to play nonconference games against one another.

Saturday's results have made it clear that the Big Ten can't play out the string and present its Rose Bowl candidate as usual at season's end. Something has to change.

So with that in mind, here are some alternatives to give the Big Ten a fighting chance in the Rose Bowl:

1. Hologram Woody Hayes. Perhaps nothing would instill fear in Pac-12 opponents more than the prowling, growling late Ohio State coach. Still, that might not be enough. Even the legendary Hayes lost four of his last five Rose Bowls.

2. Hire the Pac-12's schedulers. These criminal masterminds devised the perfect heist: They coaxed three Big Ten teams to fly across the country and play real nonconference opponents instead of staying home to play the Southwest Central Savannah Prairies of the world.

UCLA entered its game against No. 16 Nebraska having posted losing records in three of the past four seasons, low-lighted by a 50-0 loss to USC last year. No matter. The Bruins outlasted the Cornhuskers, 36-30, despite a true-freshman kicker who missed field goals from 34 and 36 yards. Illinois also lost to Arizona State, 45-14.

As for Big Ten schedulers, there is a lesson to be learned from Michigan. In 2003, when the Wolverines were ranked third, they lost 31-27 at unranked Oregon. Michigan's plane can be out of fuel and on fire, and you won't see the Wolverines making an emergency landing in Eugene anytime soon.

3. Rehire Wisconsin's former coaching staff. The Badgers thrived before offensive coordinator Paul Chryst left in the off-season to take the top job at Pittsburgh and brought three assistants with him. (The coaching alchemy appears to have broken down when Chryst left: The Panthers are 0-2.)

On Saturday, No. 13 Wisconsin lost 10-7 to Oregon State, which held 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist Montee Ball to 61 yards and no touchdowns. The same two teams met last year. The result then: 35-0, Wisconsin, with quarterback Russell Wilson leading the way. But Wilson is now starting for the Seattle Seahawks, and Wisconsin became the first such highly ranked nonconference team to lose to Oregon State since BYU in 1977.

Big Ten advocates: This is your two-time defending champion.

4. Go rogue. Ohio State's 31-16 victory over Central Florida on Saturday showcased the Buckeyes' do-everything quarterback Braxton Miller, who ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns. It also proved No. 14 Ohio State to be a fine Rose Bowl candidate. One problem: NCAA sanctions for players accepting improper cash and tattoos mean the Buckeyes aren't eligible for the postseason this year.

Send 'em anyway! The NCAA allowed five Buckeyes players to delay Tattoogate suspensions until the 2011 season so they could play in the Sugar Bowl. What's one more game?

5. Elect the Rose Bowl delegate. With Penn State also serving a postseason ban—the first of a four-year punishment in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal—the Big Ten's Leaders Division has just four postseason-eligible teams. The only one of those four that is 2-0 is Indiana, which beat Massachusetts on Saturday to move to 2-0 but lost starting quarterback Tre Roberson to a broken leg.

There is famous precedent for a vote deciding the Big Ten's Rose Bowl rep. In 1973, Michigan and Ohio State played to a tie for the conference title. The Buckeyes had gone to the previous Rose Bowl and Michigan seemed to have the better team, but Big Ten athletic directors voted in Ohio State. Why? Michigan quarterback Dennis Franklin was injured.

On Saturday, the No. 11 Spartans followed up a victory over a ranked Boise State team by crushing Central Michigan, 41-7. But Michigan State hasn't won the Rose Bowl since a 1988 victory over Southern California. To win it this season, the Spartans most likely would have to beat either No. 2 USC or No. 4 Oregon, talent-loaded Pac-12 teams that also will contend for the national title. To paraphrase the 1988 Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen: Spartans, you're no Trojans.

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